Chapter 2

What was I like back then?

Ethan and I were high school classmates. We started dating in college and were together for three years before I unilaterally proposed breaking up.

There was no dramatic plot twist, no unavoidable difficulties. It was simply because I no longer wanted to be with him.

During that time, we often argued and gave each other the cold shoulder.

It happened to coincide with my dad's passing. My cousin came to visit me at school, patted my head saying I had gotten thinner, and told me to eat well and take care of myself.

I couldn't hold back and cried in his arms.

Afterwards, someone saw this scene, took a photo, and sent it to Ethan.

He questioned whether I had fallen for someone else.

I wanted to break up, so I used this as an excuse and admitted to it.

He couldn't believe it. He went crazy and smashed everything in the room. His fist shattered the glass liquor cabinet, blood flowing non-stop.

In the end, he knelt down and hugged my waist, his voice trembling: "Lucy, what were you thinking? How could you like someone else? I won't break up. There's nothing that can't be solved by sleeping together, right? Baby, let's not break up..."

"Let's go to bed. We'll go to sleep, and then pretend nothing happened. Everything will be good like before..."

He kissed me while dragging me to the bedroom. I struggled with all my might and slapped him across the face.

Ethan's eyes were rimmed with red as he laughed and cried, like a madman.

...

At that time, we were both still young, just over 20, prideful and arrogant.

Now six years have passed. He must have naturally matured into a steady adult.

And so have I, of course.

"One will be troubled for life by the unattainable things of youth."

Whenever I see this quote, I can't help but think that worldly affairs always end without warning. How can there be so many perfect endings?

Long separations don't necessarily lead to sorrow. The ability to be troubled for life only shows that one hasn't lost enough yet.

Ethan came from a wealthy family and had a smooth sailing life from childhood. He had never stumbled before.

The only time he stumbled was probably because of me.

This also destined him to hold a grudge.

The game between adults intertwined with the grudges of youth, igniting that inglorious past.

And I was powerless, destined to bow my head to him.

Brilliant Create was my entire life's work.

When we first started the company, it was just me, Megan, and Quinn.

It's easy to talk about struggling, but those long days and nights we endured, the hair we lost, that wasn't easy.

Later, the company gradually added a few more people. We developed software together, took on contracts, and grew step by step.

When we developed a PLG-type product that could serve large enterprises, we faced a survival crisis due to funding issues.

Without sufficient capital and resources to operate, it would be a dead end.

Mr. Xu from Yongfeng Electronics was willing to help us, but his conditions were too harsh. He wanted to take over Brilliant Create for himself.

Besides Yongfeng, the most capable of saving us was Dongming.

Dongming was a subsidiary of Ocean Group.

So their CEO could decide our fate.

I had no way out.

Megan and Quinn had invested upfront, even mortgaging their homes.

Society and reality always teach us how to be human, wearing away a person's spirit and edge.

I didn't want to lose, so just like how Ethan had begged me back then, I knelt down in front of him -

"Mr. Chi, please help us."

Ethan probably didn't expect me to actually kneel. After a moment of shock, he quickly pulled me up, angrily saying: "Who told you to kneel? Lucy, you know that's not what I meant!"

"...Mr. Chi, I've thought it through."

"What?"

"On the premise of not hurting anyone, if you insist, I'm willing to sleep with you."